Beall Wood Buffing

Alex Reid

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Messages
739
Location
Zushi, Japan
Sometimes I'm a real slow starter. I bought the Beall buffing system quite some time ago but never got around to using it till last night. What a difference it makes.
 
Agreed. I love my Beall.

Al, have you launched a bowl yet while buffing? You haven't had the full Beall experience until that's happened at least once. Tripoli is the worst grabber for me.

I'm up to three launches. It's amazing how fast they can travel! :eek:
 
Neal, thanks for the heads up on that. I did notice it had quite a pull to it while buffing it. Nothing worse than destroying a bowl in the final stages.
 
I made the mistake of presenting the rim edge-on to the buff. It was out of my hands so fast I didn't even realize what happened until I heard the BANG on the other side of the shop.

Even knowing what I know now I've still had it grab two other pieces. One little slip in concentration is enough to do it.

You're right. Ruining a piece in the final stages is the most heart-wrenching.
 
The Beall kit comes with Tripoli, White Diamond, and Carnuba Wax. On most woods you would use them in that sequence. You can get them from Beall or anywhere that sells buffer wheels.

You don't want to use the White Diamond on dark woods with open pores, however. The silicates (or whatever they are) get into the pores and give the piece a milky film look. It will ruin a good finish.
 
Neal, is it necessary to use all three? I won't have a 3 wheel system and wondered if there is one that works as a good finish on antique oil, danish oil and/or toungue oil finish as that is what I use.
 
No reason to use all three if you don't want to. Most of my work gets all three but it depends on the wood. I use Seal-A-Cell on nearly everything I turn and usually buff with at least Tripoli and wax. Some just get wax.

The Cocobolo HF in the attachment below was done with no finish at all. Just buffed with Tripoli and wax (although technically, that is a finish). It did just fine on those two compounds.

Occasionally I'll apply SAC and Arm-R-Seal (a high gloss urethane coat). Buffing these pieces with just wax gives the Arm-R-Seal coat a real polished look.

As you can see, you can do it any way that works for you.

IMG_3436.jpg
 
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